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Revelation 3:1-22  seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.  3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.  4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.  5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.  6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’  7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.  8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.  9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie- behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you.  10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.  11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.  12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.  13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’  14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.  15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.  17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.  19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.  20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.  21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

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Revelation 1:1-20  ^ESV The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,  ² who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.  ³ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.  ⁴ John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,  ⁵ and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood  ⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.  ⁷ Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.  ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”  ⁹ I, John,[1] your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.  ¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet[2]  ¹¹ saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”  ¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,[3]  ¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man,[4] clothed with a long robe[5] and with a golden sash around his chest.  ¹⁴ The hairs of his head were white like wool, as white as snow.[6] His eyes were like a flame of fire,[7]  ¹⁵ his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace,[8] and his voice was like the roar of many waters.[9]  ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars,[10] from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword,[11] and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.  ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,[12]  ¹⁸ and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore,[13] and I have the keys of Death and Hades.[14]  ¹⁹ Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.[15]  ²⁰ As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands,[16] the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

I turned around and saw:

I.                    The GLORY of God

1) God is Glory

2) His Glory demands justice on all ingloriousness of his creation

II.                 The GRACE of God

1) His Cross

2) His Care

“Aslan a man!” said Mr Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-sea. Don’t you know who is King of Beasts? Aslan isa lion—the Lion, the great Lion.”

‘Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

“I’m longing to see him,” said Peter, “even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point.”

“That’s right, son of Adam,” said Mr Beaver, bringing his paw down on the table with a crash that made all the cups and saucers rattle. “And so you shall. Word has been sent that you are to meet him, tomorrow if you can, at the Stone Table.” CS Lewis, LWW 64.

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3 points:

1) The Kingdom- now and not yet-we don’t think in these categories, so we misunderstand reality and scripture.

2) The King- the present, just, merciful son of man who sows seed and harvests them.

3) The King’s Subject- radiant children, more than conquerors through him who loves them.  

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